The archive · Consumer Apps · Product decision · 2022–2023
Marvel Snap's launch bet pays off: No. 1 iPhone game in the US, 5.3M downloads in week one
Second Dinner's debut card game launched worldwide in October 2022, topped the US iPhone charts in a week and won Best Mobile Game at the Game Awards 2022
Second Dinner
What the business is
Marvel Snap is a Marvel-themed mobile card battle game developed by Second Dinner and published by Nuverse, the gaming arm of ByteDance.
Starting capital：Not disclosed; Second Dinner was founded by former Blizzard developers after leaving Hearthstone
How it started
Marvel Snap was Second Dinner's debut title: a fast Marvel card battle game published by ByteDance's Nuverse, launched globally in October 2022. Within one week it had been downloaded 5.3M times and earned over $2M, and it sat at the top of the iPhone charts in the US and Canada (Appmagic and Sensor Tower data, via Mobilegamer.biz).
What happened
The launch week out-performed or matched this year's heavyweight mobile debuts: Diablo Immortal earned around $11.5M from 6.1M downloads, Tower of Fantasy $8.7M from 2.1M, and Apex Legends Mobile $3.6M from 10M in their first weeks. Marvel Snap's market split showed the US far ahead with 1.3M downloads and $1.2M in revenue, followed by Brazil (433k installs) and Italy (342k). On December 8, 2022, the game won Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards 2022, beating Apex Legends Mobile and the other nominees.
How it ended up
The launch spike converted into durability: Marvel Snap kept operating as a live-service card game with recurring content seasons after its award-winning 2022 run, rather than fading like a launch-week fad.
Background
Marvel Snap was the debut title of Second Dinner, a studio founded after its leads left Blizzard, published worldwide on iOS and Android by ByteDance's Nuverse in October 2022. The bet was minimal and global: no soft-launch testing, no regional staging — put a fast Marvel card battle game on every store at once and trust the IP to do the acquisition. In the first week it was downloaded 5.3M times and generated over $2M, and it sat at No. 1 on the iPhone game charts in the US and Canada (Sensor Tower data, via Mobilegamer.biz).
The launch numbers compared well against the year's other big mobile debuts: Diablo Immortal's first week brought $11.5M from 6.1M downloads, Tower of Fantasy $8.7M from 2.1M, and Apex Legends Mobile $3.6M from 10M (Appmagic, via Mobilegamer.biz). Marvel Snap's split showed the US far ahead with 1.3M downloads and $1.2M in revenue; Brazil drove 433k installs and Italy 342k. Revenue leaned Apple: $1.3M on the App Store versus $737k on Android.
The momentum carried into December: on December 8, 2022, Marvel Snap won Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards 2022, ahead of Apex Legends Mobile and the other finalists. The award closed the loop on a launch strategy that traded conventional rollout caution for a single worldwide moment of attention.
What has to be true
- One simultaneous global launch created a single 'new game' moment in every market at once, which the top-chart positions then amplified.
- The Marvel license lowered the entry barrier: fans of the characters tried a game they might never have installed otherwise, doing the marketing for free.
- The freemium funnel matched the strategy: 5.3M downloads converting to $2M+ in week one showed volume — not whales — leading the revenue chart early.
- The award win in December extended the launch moment past the charts into a credibility story the campaign could keep using.
What can be applied
A same-day global launch can beat staggered rollouts when the product and license are strong: day-one chart visibility feeds itself, but the service, not the IP, keeps the game alive.
Aftermath
Marvel Snap carried its launch momentum into a live-service operation with recurring content seasons, and the studio stayed independent under Nuverse's publishing. The title's launch-week data became the reference point for how a licensed mobile game can debut globally; the comparison points in the Mobilegamer.biz piece (Diablo Immortal, Tower of Fantasy, Apex Legends Mobile) show how strong the week-one result was among 2022's marquee mobile releases. As of September 2026 the game was still operating as an active service.
Sources
- Marvel Snap has passed $2m revenue and 5.3m downloads in one week
- The Game Awards 2022 Winners: The Full List
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